Taipei - The container volume at Kaohsiung Harbour, Taiwan's main port, dropped 5.6 per cent due in 2008 to the global economic slump, an official said Wednesday.

In 2008, the Kaohsiung Harbour handled 8.97 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) containers, down 5.6 per cent from 2007, harbour master Tsai Ting-kui said.

"The main impact on our performance was caused by the 25 per cent drop in container volume in November and 23 per cent drop in December," he said.

"We are not optimistic about the first half of 2009, but hope the slump will lift in the latter half. Our target for 2009 is 10 million TEUs, and we hope we can reach the target," he noted.

Kaohsiung Harbour, in south Taiwan, was the world's number 3 container port during the 1980s, but its ranking has been slipping rapidly in recent years as neighbouring countries, especially China, have expanded their ports or built new ports.

To revive its slumping economy, Taiwan lifted the six-decade ban on shipping links with China in December, which is expected to boost container volume by 1 million TEUs annually. (dpa)